


holiday trope ficlets

by harriet_vane



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M, holiday ficlets, tumblr meme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-24
Updated: 2013-12-24
Packaged: 2018-01-05 22:43:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1099446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harriet_vane/pseuds/harriet_vane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two tiny little <a href="http://mistresscurvy.tumblr.com/post/68992460599/holiday-fic-tropes">holiday trope ficlets</a> from tumblr. I meant to write more, but... Then I got carried away with another writing project.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Realizing feelings when watching someone interact with family/children!

Joey comes home with a letter that says her Reception class is having a Christmas party, and she should bring something sweet. Louis looks at it rather grimly; she wants to bake the biscuits herself, and he's never been very well acquainted with the oven. There's also the bit where he's been to school four times on the request of her teacher, Mr. Payne, and Louis doesn't want to face him with a tin full of slightly burnt biscuits. 

If only Joey wouldn't bite people who make her angry. And if only she hadn't told Lucinda Smith that her face looked like a horse. And if only Joey, after being told to apologize to Lucinda, hadn't looked Mr. Payne dead in the eye and said, "I'm sorry... for NOTHING," in a way that, when Mr. Payne phoned him to reenact it, sounded quite a bit like something Louis might have said himself as a child. He'd sent his mum some flowers as a very late apology.

It's been an exciting autumn, is all. Louis had been optimistic that being at school would settle Joey a bit, help her get along with other little girls and make friends. Instead she seems to have declared herself the Queen of Reception, and expects to have the power of life and death over all the other children. Louis would feel bad for poor patient Mr. Payne, except he's got to deal with Joey himself every single day of his life. 

He loves her, and he loves that she's brash and bossy and loud. He just wishes she could learn when to turn it on and off. Not that Louis ever has.

"Right," he says. "Biscuits."

"And I need antlers," Joey says. Her hair is down to her waist in knots somehow; Louis's sure he just brushed it.

"Antlers," Louis repeats grimly. 

"It's a fancy dress Christmas party," Joey says. Everything in her school bag is all over the floor; crumpled maths worksheets and a set of rainbow coloured pens (with red and purple missing but four blues for some reason), and one pink trainer, and a scarf that definitely isn't hers, and a load of papers with juice sticking them together.

"Is it really, or do you just want to be a reindeer?" Louis asks.

Joey narrows her eyes. "Does it matter?"

It really doesn't.

\--

Louis drives Joey to school with her amazing antlers on. They're covered in pink and silver glitter, which Joey and Louis decided was the fashion at the North Pole. He's also painted her nose red with lipstick, and drawn freckles all over her cheeks. 

The tin of biscuits on her lap is slightly larger than Joey is. "Lucinda doesn't get a cookie," she says. "But I'm giving Melissa three, because she's my best friend."

"I thought Amy was your best friend," Louis says.

"That was _last_ week," says Joey, with an amazing eye roll that Louis is a little jealous of. 

Louis is the last person who should be offering this advice, really, but – "Joey, darling, if you were a little more patient with your friends—"

"I'm not Joey!" she says shrilly. "I'm Prancer! I'm a reindeer!" She makes a noise that Louis assumes must be a reindeer noise, and paws at the door of the car.

"Can a reindeer eat biscuits?" Louis asks, reaching for the tin.

"Yes," say Joey quickly, snatching them out of his reach. "Come on, you have to come in and see how we decorated the room!" She darts out of the car.

It's cold outside and Louis isn't wearing a jacket because he wasn't planning on going in with her. But he's not going to make her spend her party sulking. He follows her down the corridor and into the classroom, which does look rather like Christmas has thrown up all over it. There's a small ocean of tiny screaming children, most of whom are dressed normally but there is a very small round Father Christmas in the corner. 

"Daddy, look!" says Joey, pointing to a paper Christmas tree glued up on the wall. Each of the children in the class has made one of the paper decorations, and Joey's is particularly glittery and feathery and covered in stuff. "That's mine."

"Wow," says Louis. Hers is enormous and it's raining glitter all over the wall. "That's truly impressive."

"I know," says Joey.

"Joey, your tin can go on the table," says Mr. Payne. Louis winces before he turns around, just because every time he's met Mr. Payne has been a complete disaster. There was the biting incident, of course, but also the time Joey accidentally glued her own hair to the carpet and it had to be cut, and she cried her face off and Louis shouted at Mr. Payne because his little girl was so upset. There was also the time where he called to say she was feeling ill, and Louis arrived just in time to see her be sick all over Mr. Payne's shoes. Louis is fairly confident he's not Mr. Payne's favorite person.

Which is a shame, because Mr. Payne isn't terrible looking. Even wearing a Christmas-themed jumper and looking awfully like a teacher, he's got broad shoulders and a cheerful smile that doesn't dim even when he realizes Louis's there. He might be some sort of saint, or maybe all Reception teachers are required to be like this.

"She's so chuffed you're here," says Mr. Payne. "She really adores you, I can tell."

"She'd better; I'm her dad," says Louis, pretending it doesn't thrill him just a little bit. "She hasn't, um, set anything on fire lately, has she? Or anything?"

Mr. Payne shakes his head. "She's settled down, I think. Sometimes the start of the school year can be a bit difficult. Oh, actually… There was an incident last week."

'An incident' sounds awfully bad. "Oh," says Louis. "How much'll it cost me?"

Mr. Payne laughs. "No, I just meant… I was going to phone, and then I got busy. The girls were all playing mummies and babies and Joey got a bit quiet and then shouted that she wasn't going to be a mummy, not ever, because mummies are rubbish, and sat in the corner and cried for a while."

"She misses her mummy," says Louis. It's awkward, because how could it not be? He misses Joey's mummy, too. Louis's got his hands jammed in his pockets and he thinks if he shouted at Mr. Payne he'd probably cry. Louis could grab Joey and make a run for it.

"It's so difficult," says Mr. Payne sympathetically. "I think you're doing an amazing job with her, really."

Louis stares at him. "She bit Lucinda," he points out.

Mr. Payne just shrugs. "Charlie Devon misses his mummy so much that he keeps weeing himself and then crying because he forgot to tell me he needed to go to the toilet. Er, I mean, I didn't tell you that. That's a terrible thing to have told you." He looks proper embarrassed.

Louis, on the other hand, is thrilled. He's been a bit concerned that Joey might be the most confused and sad little girl in the whole school, and he has no idea what to do about it. "Please tell me terrible things about all the other children," he says. 

Mr. Payne looks like he wants to laugh but he can't let himself. "Let's just say they've all got their own special quirks, bless them."

"I'm glad to hear it," Louis says. "Thanks." He grins at Mr. Payne, and Mr. Payne smiles back, a little uncertainly.

Oh, it's _such_ a good smile. And it's been a long time since anyone this handsome smiled at Louis. It's been longer since anyone didn't act as if Joey were the devil with pigtails. 

Almost like he's a mind-reader, Mr. Payne says, "She's just high-spirited."

"She's a bit awful," Louis says. "It's my fault. I'm a bit awful, as well."

Mr. Payne glances up at Louis, and then down, and then up again. Louis's fairly sure he just got checked out by a Reception teacher, and he feels quite flattered. "You don't look awful to me," says Mr. Payne. His cheeks are a little pink. "I should go and get everyone ready to sing Christmas songs, sorry; it looks like Amy might have broken Lucinda's doll, and it'll be tears all day."

"Right, of course," says Louis. How does one go about asking out one's daughter's teacher? He wonders. Probably he shouldn't. Almost definitely he shouldn't. 

There is nothing on earth Louis loves quite as much as things he definitely shouldn't do. 

Mr. Payne goes to clear up the knot of shrieking children that's formed in a corner. He crouches down and speaks to them in a very low, serious tone, and they all nod and agree. Joey in particular smiles at him, which is amazing; she doesn't like anyone. Or rather, she doesn't like anyone at first; Mr. Payne must have done quite a lot of work to make her listen to him like this. 

Louis makes himself turn around and walk out before he can have any inappropriate feelings in a Reception classroom. It's just that Mr. Payne isn't at all bad looking, and Joey loves him, and Louis is definitely, definitely leaving.

If maybe he's thinking of sneaky ways to come back as soon as possible, well. That's no one's business but his own.


	2. Drunk work Christmas parties

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trope: Drunk work Christmas parties

Eight months working in the same recording studio and Louis has never got Liam to smile at him once. There is a disapproving frown, and a different disapproving frown, and a cross way he beetles his eyebrows together, and a confused sort of stare, and a disapproving stare with concerned eyebrows, and annoyed covered by politeness, and too-annoyed-to-be-polite—

Louis has cataloged them extensively. But the point is that Liam never smiles, and just now he is smiling.

It might be because Niall is draped across his back, half-dressed in a santa suit and shouting, "Have another one!" in Liam's ear. Louis was fairly sure Liam didn't drink; he's never come out drinking after work. But his cheeks are pink and his hair – grown out since Louis started work there – is mussed, and he's got a mostly-empty glass in his hand. 

What happened was this: Louis spent an hour with Harry, under the mistletoe, where Harry was lurking hoping to catch Niall. But then Louis got bored and found Liam, and coincidentally Niall, who are sat on a table in the cupboard with a bottle of champagne. Niall's santa beard is stuck to his ear, and his red jacket is hanging open. The rest of the party at the studio is quite loud, but the cupboard is quiet except Niall shouting drunkenly. 

And Louis said, "Oh my god, Liam Payne; are you _drunk_?" and Liam, instead of any of the myriad frowns Louis has seen before –

Liam smiled.

Liam is smiling still, pink cheeked and ducking his head, because Niall is trying to pour champagne in his ear. 

"You are," says Louis. "You're drunk!"

"Drunk as shit," Niall agrees. "Hello, Louis!"

"Hello, Niall. Harry's looking for you." 

Niall grins drunkenly. "Fantastic," he says. "That's fantastic. Where is he? Don't tell me! I'll find him. I'll find him good." 

"You're going to fall down," says Liam fondly. His shirt is undone at the collar, and his tie is crooked. Louis thinks he can see a hint of chest hair. Maybe not. Maybe he's drunk, too. 

"I never fall down!" Niall shouts, holding up the bottle in one arm like a prize. He stumbles over an extension cord on the floor and nearly brains himself on the door, but Louis grabs his arm.

Louis points Niall in Harry's general direction. "That way," he says. Niall'll never make it through the crowd, but maybe Harry will find him instead. 

Liam giggles. Louis's head whips around so quickly that he nearly falls over as well. "You laughed!" he says accusingly, pointing at Liam.

Liam, who has not smiled at Louis, not once, no matter how obnoxious and annoying Louis's been, bites his lip and ducks his head. "Well, I'm drunk," he says, shrugging. He doesn't sound very sorry.

Louis edges right up in his space. The room's a bit swimmy around the edges, but it's not Louis's fault that Nick was handing out shots. "How drunk are you?" he asks Liam suspiciously. "Drunk enough for me to pull?"

Liam's eyes go wide. Louis's never actually tried to flirt with him before. He's always suspected that Liam would deck him, and Liam's got lovely arms and great big hands. They'd probably hurt quite a lot. But Louis is drunk enough that he forgot he thinks Liam might try and punch him in the nose. 

"Dunno," says Liam. 

"What's that mean? You don't know," says Louis. He figured Liam would at least say, 'Go to hell.'

"I mean I don't know," says Liam. "You'd have to, like. Try." 

Louis is astonished. His mouth hangs open. He wishes Niall had left the champagne behind. He edges even closer, standing between Liam's legs where Liam's sat on the table. Their noses could almost touch. "You don't even like me," Louis says.

"You're loud," says Liam. "And you're always late." His eyelashes are so long, and he's looking at his hands instead of at Louis. 

Louis can't argue with that. "But I'm funny," he says. "And charming. I'm terribly charming. Everyone thinks so. Everyone but you."

Liam mumbles something Louis can't hear, and he's close enough that he can smell the champagne Niall dripped all over Liam earlier. Then Liam looks up, and he stares at Louis's mouth for a minute. Louis can feel it in his stomach. 

"What?" Louis asks, edging even closer. He puts his hands on Liam's thighs for balance. 

"Not everyone but me," says Liam. He glances at Louis's mouth again. "I think you're really funny."

Louis needs Liam to be drunk all day every day. Behind him he hears a shout from a load of people. He hears Niall yell, "Leave us alone, you fuckers!" That'll be Niall and Harry sorted, then.

"And charming?" Louis asks hopefully.

Liam nods. Louis edges even closer. His mouth is open, and Liam's mouth is open, and if Louis leans in then their mouths will be touching.

"Really?" Louis whispers. Another shout goes up in the room behind them. Nick yells, "Put your cock in his mouth!"

"Yeah," Liam whispers back, so Louis leans in. His mouth fits on Liam's like it's meant to be there. Liam tastes of cake and champagne and his mouth is hot. Louis digs his fingers into Liam's thighs and Liam groans into his mouth and Louis doesn't understand why Liam has never smiled at him when they could have been doing this the whole time. He wants to climb up on Liam's lap, but they're both a bit drunk and they'd probably fall over. 

"Stop," says Liam breathlessly, turning his face away. Louis's heart plummets. This is why they never did this. Because Liam is no fun, and Liam is a buzzkill, and Liam makes Louis's dick hard and then says 'stop.' 

"What the fuck, Liam—" Louis starts, ready to work himself into a strop.

Liam nudges Louis with his knee. "You should shut the cupboard door," Liam says. His eyes are bright. His cheeks have gone red and the flush spreads down his chest where his shirt is undone. "I mean… I think you should shut the cupboard door, if you want to."

"Fuck," says Louis happily, and kicks the door shut. 

It's quite embarrassing when Zayn comes in looking for them half an hour later and Liam's got no shirt on and Louis's trying to get his hand down Liam's trousers, and they don't find Louis's pants until the janitors clean out the cupboard on Monday.

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](http://theboycanthelpit.tumblr.com/)


End file.
